


The Retelling of an Old Tale

by lyriumsiren



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Jack is a bandit, Nisha is the CEO, Spoilers, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-09-22 15:53:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9614975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyriumsiren/pseuds/lyriumsiren
Summary: What if Handsome Jack, was really just another bandit?What if Nisha Kadam was a tyrannical CEO?Why don't we find out?





	

**Author's Note:**

> A dear friend of mine likes this idea and thought I should post it. This isn't beta'd, and its 3 AM, so I am sorry if it doesn't make sense or has errors.

In older times, tales were sang as bard's nimble fingers would pluck at strings that rested in lutes. Actions and dreams drew inspiration, and many would claim a bard could influence a dream with their seductive voice, and calm strumming. Tales always had more than one interpretation, and many things could be gotten wrong or changed from person to person. Such, as the stories stemming from Pandora, a lawless and unforgiving planet, marred only on the surface while it's space view was breath taking. Such a story, twisted was that of the handsomely and masked CEO, and his bandit lover. In truth, both still fifty shades of fucked up, their roles were practically reversed. 

Known as Handsome Jack in many versions, he was nothing more than a bandit who resided in one of the bandit infested town, just trying to survive on Pandora. This earned him, the infamous "bandit who kills bandits" title, after many bandit clans fell at his doing. The only connection at the time to Hyperion, was he enjoyed the accuracy on the gun.

Though, she had an imminence love for westerns, the woman never went around calling people 'cowboy', or waving pistols around to scare off bandits. No, Nisha Kadam, known as the sheriff of Lynchwood, was just a weapons designer for Hyperion. She never stepped a foot on Pandora, and never intended to. The formally known Pandora, had never said where she was from, just that her childhood was still rough.

Jack's daughter and wife, never perished due to siren abilities or due to vault hunters. His wife was murdered by the very bandits he fights, to keep his daughter safe. A daughter, who loves her father dearly and never needed to be hidden from the world, as there was no tattoos spanning her body. This Angel, had no wings. The same could not be said, about Nisha's dear sister. By the age of three, Faven Kadam was marked with her powers.

Unlike the tale of Handsome Jack, Faven never destroyed her mother. Much to both her, and Nisha's displeasure. The abuse was non-stop to both girls, regardless of what the younger was. If anything, the mother seemed spurred on by this fact. This daughter of her's was supposed to be an unbreakable goddess, and nothing brought her more joy than seeing the false goddess cry each time she'd slap her. Their childhood parallels the other stories as it continued on, with Nisha still suffering from the dog she loved turning on her. Only, it was never Nisha who ended the dog's life.

The first time her sister ever used her powers, was when she followed her big sister outside, where the dog was tied up. Nisha already gained her skewed idea of how the world works, yet she had some flicker of hope that the dog would calm down and go back to being her adorable pet. What blew that flicker out, was when the dog managed to break the chain holding it and move to attack her once again. Nisha flinched, waiting for the dog to bite her again. When it never happened, her closed eyes opened, and quickly widened in time to see the dog explode in a gory sight. Nisha wanted to scream, but she just stared, until she heard a small voice call her name. Faven was standing by, the tattoos on her body, having a dimming pink glow emulating from it. Nisha quickly hugged her sister, both thanking and comforting the younger girl. From that moment, they knew that it was them against the world.

With her mother's passing, Nisha found employment with Hyperion and whisked her sister away to a better life. The tale of the bunker, and how Jack locked Angel away, was not what happened in this. Nisha used half her funds, after gathering a satellite from her uppers, to create a safe place on Pandora for her sister to safely practice her abilities and if she wanted, help her with the use of the satellite. Which, happened of course, when Nisha started to hear of vaults. Nisha was a woman who loved a good gun, and with the legends of sirens being connected to vaults and how they held large amounts of loot, it seemed perfect for her. Between an actual code money friend, at the age of fifteen, Faven was directing the team of vault hunters to the vault. Nisha told her sister to tell them half the truth. That there was to be some mega weapons in there to loot, just not what it would truly be.

From there, everything continued like the tale. Faven was made to be able to plug into the echo-net when she wanted, by her choice. And a year later, after mining the eyeball to set up defenses on the space station, she heard of another vault that could contain an even better weapon. The issue was her sister's conscious. Faven couldn't help but feel a bit connected to the four she lead to an almost death. Nisha asked her a few more times, but ended up deciding to go the route of hiring people to help her. After all, people did love money. This version would see Faven to be... thanked, for Claptrap. Faven somehow found the little robot endearing, and Nisha just wanted a badass weapon wielding robot.

 

Everything went the same from there, past the body double. Nisha was vain to a point, but not as much as Jack was ever made out to be. Timothy Lawrence was her hired assistant. Bound by a contract that would be only over once he no longer lived. She didn't keep him from talking to his family, but he couldn't go see them. No, once all of the adventure of Elpis was over, he was going to be in charge of watching her sister. She didn't meet her employees while getting her ass kicked. In fact, she was kicking ass. She was just just having issues getting tech stuff to work. God she hated tech. Of course, she did get distracted, the first time she looked into the different coloured eyes of a certain male. Anyone who would claim it was love at first sight, truly knew nothing of the two. Nisha was instantly drawn to his looks and reputation, but it was all lust and gunpowder. Not love and rose petals. Nisha could never speak for Jack, as maybe he did fall for her right then and there. At least, that is how Nisha would tell anyone.

The way she knew Moxxi, was because she had stopped at one of the establishments the woman had, looking for something to eat. It was hard taking care of an eleven year old by yourself on Pandora, after all. Nisha would of personally shot anyone who claimed they became lovers. No, they only became cross because of how differently their personalities were. No one knows exactly what was the straw that broke the camel's back. That would be lost in history.

Once again the tales were almost identical from there, though Nisha would be taking more of an active role. She'd aid them on quests, once she was down from Helios. When they made it to the vault finally. Nisha was disappointed, she expected a super weapon that could help her find even more brutal ways of killing idiots for fun. Not some floating relic. She almost said fuck it and left, but she felt compelled to grab the thing. Didn't want all the money she was paying the vault hunters to be for nothing.

And just like how the tales would say Jack was branded, Nisha was as well. Only, she never hid behind a mask. She wanted to see the scar, and it spurred her own greatly. Blossoming a great need for revenge. Nisha was quick to kill Tassiter. He was an asshole, and she was tired of the mediocre guns they made her put out. Hyperion became her's. It's purple and grey colour scheme the truth. Not some gross yellow colour. From there, she took out Claptrap to get all the secret weapons and because no one truly liked him in either tale. 

She attacked New Haven, only for the purpose of striking back at the vault hunters. But she seemed to decide it would be smart to take the vault key anyway. So she did, and began to learn more of vaults. The Warrior looked promising, it truly did. So, maybe she would awaken it. That ended once she realized she needed that key from the first vault charged, which would take two hundred years. The mining of Eridum happened, and she designed the new weapons for Hyperion herself.

When the connection between the vaults and sirens became known to her, she was worried for her sister. It was an accident, when they found out how Eridum would effect her. Due to her not being locked away, nor connected permanently to the echo net, Faven still lived with her sister. After all, she was just reaching adulthood. They were working on her office's trophy case, and two of the pieces were the key parts, and the first chunk of Eridum Nisha got. Faven was picking up the piece of Eridum, when it started to seep into her skin, her tattoos alight. Startled, she jumped back, falling on her ass and the pieces of the key in her lap. When Nisha walked in, the Eridum was already soaked into her sister, and the key pieces floating, starting to charge.

Faven knew the risks of Eridum, and how addicting it could become, yet she told her sister she would charge the key if that was what she wanted. Faven used to be remorseful for tricking the vault hunters, but now she wished they had perished for marring her sister's face, and causing her pain. Nisha outright refused to put her on a constant supply, as Jack was said to of done to Angel. Nisha couldn't stand the idea of her sister locked away, turned into some form of Rapunzel. So, every once and a while, Nisha would escort her sister down to Control Core Fae, as Faven insisted it was not named after her. Faven would work on charging the key without Eridum, until she was feeling to drained, and then she'd used a controlled amount of Eridum to continue the charge.

Of course, Nisha would make a personal stop in true version of Lynchwood. Jack and her had fallen in love, even if Nisha denied it, sometime after they first met. He was the only one who would know of Faven's true identity for the longest time. She gave him a town to run and full access to whatever he could ever desire from Helios. The access also extended to her personal place, once Faven was living in her own area on Helios or had taken to staying in the bunker.

Nisha was every bit the tyrant Jack was, just she didn't want to bring order and make Pandora her bitch in the way Jack wanted. She wanted Pandora in the way, she just simply governed. Be able to kill who she wanted, when she wanted. Of course, she wanted revenge on the vault hunters, which was why she slowly worked to awaken The Warrior. Why she would kill anyone she knew associated with them. It was why she attempted to kill the new group, as they found themselves trying to join the first gen, and become vault hunters themselves.

The tales would spin many different versions of what happened. 

How Nisha would conquer and wipe out those vault hunters who crossed her. She'd, reluctantly, start a family with Jack as her sister would actually take up vault hunting to find more on sirens and see more of the world. Some would talk of the great defeat of Nisha. How her sister became known, and to strike a blow against her, was turned into a casualty. How that made her go crazy and capture Lilith to fully charge the key, following the path that Jack's tale had. Some even said she just stopped, and focused on her company, sister, and Jack. The last was the furthest from the truth. Yet, the truth of how it all ended was lost somewhere along the line.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed, I'd love any feedback and criticism you have! Maybe I could branch out and make these a multi-chapter for the different endings?


End file.
